Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me
by TheUnknownMissAusten
Summary: A snippet of one of the scenes we didn't see during Miguel & Tulio's time stranded in the longboat after escaping Cortez's ship. TOLD FROM MIGUEL'S POV. This isn't slash, but it is affectionate. Bonus points if you recognize the song in it!


**Title:** Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me  
**Rating:** PG for some very mild language  
**Pairing:** None.  
**Warning:** This is my very first ever fanfic for anything, so I hope it's good!  
**Summary:** A snippet of one of the scenes we didn't see during Miguel & Tulio's time stranded in the longboat after escaping Cortez's ship. TOLD FROM MIGUEL'S POV.  
**Disclaimer:** Miguel, Tulio and Altivo belong to Dreamworks Pictures. I've made no money and seek no gold from this fanfic...just fun and a bit of literary adventure.  
**Note: **This isn't slash, but it is affectionate. I'd like to think it is in keeping with the tone of the film, which obviously had a lot of affection and closeness between Miguel & Tulio. I'd also like to think that this could very possibly have happened in one of the scenes we didn't see, that's how close to the film it is...but I'll need some feedback to let me know if I'm being delusional about that or not! The title came about because I was listening to almost exclusively Elton John songs while I was writing this, and that song came on at the very end and I was struck by how appropriate it is. So, with no further _ado,_ enjoy! Oh, and bonus points if you recognize the song in it. Not that the "bonus points" will actually amount to anything substantial in the real world, but it'll probably make the story a lot funnier.

Neither of us had said anything for hours. There wasn't really anything _to_ say.

We were sitting back to back in the boat, rocking slowly but methodically, maddeningly so. With Altivo taking up most of the space, there wasn't much room to spread out. I let my head drop against the back of Tulio's neck, closing my eyes as the sun beat down on us as if we'd offended it somehow. Tulio sighed. I felt him cross his arms and then uncross them again restlessly. He was probably thirsty. I know I was.

Usually Tulio's the one that comes up with the plans, but right then, all I could do was think. I alternated between being angry at Tulio for giving up, and angry at myself for letting him. Angry at Altivo for eating all our supplies, and then, inexplicably, angry at him for giving us the damned keys to the brig in the first place. If we'd never left the ship, we'd still be alive. And hey, we'd be in Cuba!

I'd really like to see Cuba someday. At that moment, I didn't even know if we'd see tomorrow.

Wait a minute, what was I thinking? No wonder Tulio was so depressed. I'm the one who always cheers him up when his plans don't go exactly as we'd hoped. By this time, I was pretty good at it.

No, I decided – I couldn't let him give up. He didn't know it, but I still had the map to El Dorado. With a little luck and one of Tulio's plans, maybe we could get there after all.

Now, I just had to get it out of him.

Tulio shifted against me, trying to massage the tension out of his left shoulder awkwardly with his right hand. I mustered the strength to sit up straight and turned around. "I'll do that."

"Thanks," Tulio mumbled. His energy was waning fast from the heat of the sun and lack of nourishment. Mine was too, but I remembered the map, and the way Tulio's eyes always gleamed when he came up with a new plan. His energy fed mine just as much as, I suspected, mine fed his. And I was famished for more than just food. The next time I closed my eyes, I wanted a reason to open them again.

I rubbed Tulio's sagging shoulders, digging my thumbs into his shoulder blades as I had done so many times before when we were hiding from guards for hours in alleyways or haylofts or on the rare occasion that we actually had a roof over our heads. He was always so tense, unless one of our schemes had gone perfectly, which they never did. Usually because of me. But on the other hand, when Tulio really laughed, the sound was unbridled and infectious, increasing my hunger for adventure that would cause more of it. The last time I'd heard him laugh was three days ago now, maybe four, right after we'd won the map from the sailors and before our loaded dice fell out of his pocket. After that, there hadn't been much occasion for joy.

I could feel the dense knots in his back even through his vest and shirt. I rubbed harder, trying to work them out, hoping that would open up his mind again. He leaned back into my hands, letting his neck go limp and his head loll backwards, eyes closed, mouth slightly ajar.

I couldn't help but grin a little. Now we were getting somewhere.

"Your shoulders are so tight," I quipped. "What are you worried about now?"

"Very funny," Tulio tried to snap, but his tone was probably less biting than he'd have liked. He closed his mouth but didn't open his eyes as I kept massaging down his back. He relaxed a little more, letting me support him.

"I think this is worse than the time those guards caught us playing poker with those bankers. Do you remember that?"

A hint of a smile tugged at Tulio's lips in spite of himself.

"Those guys were such suckers. We won almost a hundred pesetas that day." He paused suddenly in the middle of the memory, seeming to take off the rose-colored glasses. No thanks to you," he jabbed at me good-naturedly.

"What do you mean? You know my mood music kept them going!"

"Yeah. Right. Whatever," Tulio scoffed.

"It's true! That last bet, they were all questioning it, but they did it anyway."

"I guess so."

I batted the back of Tulio's head playfully. "You know you couldn't have done it without me."

He snorted. "And what about when they realized the cards were marked?"

"What? We got out of it, like we always do."

I'd stopped rubbing his back and he turned around to look at me, grinning the grin I knew so well. "Yeah, we did," he conceded.

We sat in silence for a minute, regarding each other. Tulio's eyes were full of fondness and warmth – a welcome change from his worried, despairing demeanor even a few seconds earlier.

"Your line about not even knowing what the jack of spades looked like was good. You have to remember that," he offered.

"I will."

He picked at a tear in his vest absently. "If we ever get out of this boat."

"We will."

"How can you be so positive all the time? How do you know we will?"

"Because! What's the alternative?"

That seemed to shut him up, if only for the moment. Even he didn't want to say it.

The sun began to set over the waves and darkness enveloped us like a cloak. Tulio sighed and awkwardly lay down in the bottom of the boat. I did the same on the opposite end, stretching out so my feet were level with his head. His feet were in my face. It wasn't the most pleasant way to sleep.

Apparently, Tulio felt the same way. He batted at my feet, trying to push them further away from his nose. "Your feet smell like fish," he complained.

"Well gee, I'm sorry," I said. "Yours, on the other hand, smell like roses."

He stuck his feet under my nose and wiggled his toes. I laughed and shoved them away.

We both shifted and squirmed but couldn't seem to find a position to lie where our feet weren't in each other's faces. "Just come up here, would you?" Tulio finally grumbled.

I sat up and turned around, lying down with my head against Tulio's shoulder. The boat wasn't really wide enough for us to both to stretch out comfortably, so we turned onto our sides, looking each other in the face.

"Just another day in paradise," I said, trying to be cheerful.

Tulio rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, harrumphing across from me. Altivo, stretched out to his heart's content on the side of the boat, snorted in his sleep. "You know, we'd have much more room if he wasn't here."

"What were we supposed to do? Just leave him in the water? He's the one who got us out in the first place!"

"Yeah… but now what?"

"Don't ask me that! You're the one who's supposed to come up with the plans!" I retorted. Tulio looked offended, so I quickly backpedaled. "Besides, aren't we supposed to be rowing back to Spain? Now when we get there, we'll have a horse!"

"_If_ we ever get there."

I just looked at him. I didn't know what else to say. He stared back at me defiantly, as if daring me to contradict him.

Finally I thought of something. "Well, at least we're out of that brig. Can you imagine being locked up with Cortez for another week? And listening to that sailor practice his singing for hours on end every night?"

Tulio rolled his eyes but then reluctantly grinned again, remembering. "That was awful. I bet he thought the native girls would swoon over him when he started that crooning."

"They'd all run for their lives as soon as they heard it!"

Tulio giggled. "He thought he was good!"

"Have you ever heard anything like that? He woke me up last night with it!"

"I'm surprised he didn't wake up the whole ship!" Tulio ran a hand through his hair, giggling harder and shaking his head as the memory came back to him. The boat rocked a little back and forth as his shoulders shook. He put a hand over his mouth instinctively, but that only seemed to increase his merriment. His laughter was contagious; I started giggling too.

"The only way he'd get a woman that way would be if she agreed to sleep with him if he'd shut up!" I offered.

"What the hell was he even singing?"

"Oh I don't know; an aria or something. Like any native girl would be impressed by that. Oh, look at me, look at me, don't bother with all the other strong men you know – I'm the perfect guy because I can _sing_, that's_ his_ brilliant plan!"

Tulio's giggles turned to full laughter. Elated, I kept going, imitating the sailor in a high pitched falsetto. "_The God of love, who sits aboooove, and knows me, and knows me, how pitiful I deserve…"_

I could barely get the last words out. Tulio was helpless with laughter by that time, lying full on his back and giggling uncontrollably. I couldn't help but join him in his mirth, letting my head drop down onto his shoulder, laughing so hard I couldn't talk. When I looked up, I caught Tulio's eye immediately and we both collapsed again in another fit of giggles.

After a few minutes, gasping, Tulio could finally speak. "Well, now we know the secret. All because of him."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Who needs gold? We just have to learn how to sing."

"You especially," Tulio joked, punching me in the shoulder, still giggling at my imitation of the sailor.

"If we ever see that guy again, we should thank him."

Tulio calmed down, turning on his side and propping himself up on his elbow, regarding me. He smiled. I smiled back. "It's good to hear you laugh," I said.

"You too." He regarded me with a warm fondness that I only hoped would last.

"We'll get out of this. We will. And we'll go on to have a thousand more adventures."

"I hope so," Tulio said, sighing. "But right now, I don't even have a plan."

"It's okay. I'll help you make one. My last idea turned out pretty well, didn't it?" I glanced at the sleeping Altivo, who had started snoring and twitching in his dreams.

"Depends on what your definition of 'pretty well' is," Tulio said, nudging me in the shoulder. His good mood hadn't diminished yet.

I thought about telling him that I still had the map to El Dorado…but then I thought better of it. Maybe now wasn't the time. I wanted his cheerfulness to last as long as possible. Let's just go with what we have, I decided. Besides, who knew if that would ever amount to anything?

"Well, now, if we ever see Cuba, it'll be because we _want _to," I offered, settling down against Tulio's side in the boat, preparing for sleep.

"Yeah, and we'll have enough gold to make it worthwhile," he said, uncharacteristically optimistic. I rested against his left arm, the fabric of his shirt rubbing against my cheek familiarly. I smiled to myself as I felt his breathing even out and ease into rhythmic patterns as he drifted into unconsciousness.

This might not be so hard after all, I thought, as consciousness slipped from me and away into the night, the boat rocking us back and forth like we were babies in a cradle.


End file.
